Summer resident wins women’s keelboat championship

Cory Sertl, a summer islander, finished first in last week’s U.S. Sailing Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship held on Lake Ontario. Her daughter, Katja Sertl, finished in eighth place at the competition.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL FORSTER PHOTOGRAPHY Only Hollywood could have scripted a more dramatic and exciting finale as racing for U.S. Sailing Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship came to its nail-biting conclusion last week on Lake Ontario.

When the 36 teams of all-women sailors – who hail from 16 U.S. states, Canada, Great Britain and The Netherlands – left Rochester Yacht Club on Sept. 1, there were eight races on the scoreboard and a tight point spread among the top three in the standings.

First overall was skipper Anna Tunnicliffe, the defending champion, followed by Sally Barkow. Just five points back was Cory Sertl, a summer resident of Jamestown, while islander Carol Cronin started the day tied for fifth place with 38 points.

The first race got started in roughly eight knots of breeze and Sertl was in the lead by the weather mark, going on to handily win the race. She was followed across the line by Kirsten Lane, Meghan Jordan and Barkow. Tunnicliffe was eighth. Barkow’s fourth-place finish put her back on top of the standings with 28 points, while Sertl was second with 30. Tunnicliffe was third with 32 points.

Racing was postponed after storms in the area sucked away the breeze, and two general recalls took place before the race committee was able to start race 10 in roughly eight knots of breeze. Lane won the race, followed across the line by Katie Coleman Nicoll and Cronin. Sertl finished sixth. Barkow was eighth, and Tunnicliffe, who had a bad start and went to the wrong side of the course, picked up an 18th-place finish that became her drop score. The recalculated overall standings saw Sertl take over the lead ahead of Barkow, although they were tied with 36 points. Tunnicliffe remained third overall with 42 points.

With only 30 minutes left before the 3 p.m. deadline after which no race could be started, the 11th and final race of the day began in 10 to 11 knots of breeze from the east. Sertl led for much of the race, but Barkow edged past her to cross the line first, but was subsequently disqualified for an incident at the start. It not only added 37 points to Barkow’s score, but also thwarted her from winning the championship. (Had Barkow not been disqualified, she would have won the regatta by three points.)

Barkow was followed by Sertl’s 17-year-old daughter, Katja Sertl, who officially finished the race in first place because of the disqualification. Second and third place went to Tunnicliffe and Cory Sertl, respectively.

Overall, Barkow’s disqualification led to a third-place finish with 54 points, behind Tunnicliffe with 44 points and Cory Sertl with 39.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Sertl of her third time winning the event. “To do this with all four of us from Rochester Yacht Club, and especially since our focus this summer has been on taking our kids to events and not so much on our own personal sailing. To be able to relax and pull together our experiences – sailing together, sailing here and sailing the J/22 – is just really satisfying.”

Sertl had given her boat to her daughter to sail, and had chartered another boat to race herself which her husband, Mark, set up like her boat so that she could be comfortable in it. “It’s so great to see Katja and the girls do so well,” said Sertl. “I know my boat’s fast, but she really made it go real fast.”

Sertl and her team – Amy Seymour Moran, Annemarie Cook and Jane Mastrandrea – competed together at both the 2007 and 2009 Rolex Women’s International Keelboat Championship. A twotime Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, Sertl has competed in the regatta 11 out of the 14 times it has been held in the 26 years since its inception, winning twice previously: as crew for Betsy Alison at the first running of this event in 1985 at Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, and as skipper in 2001 when the event was held at Annapolis Yacht Club in Maryland.